Ben Oliver’s The Loop secures book and TV deals

The Loop will be published Chicken House in 2020. Ben’s debut has also been optioned by Lime Pictures, one of the UK’s largest independent production companies, who will develop it as a multi-part returnable series. Chicken House acquired World rights (excluding Czech) from Chloe Seager while Lime Pictures acquired TV rights from James Carroll.

The series features lead character Luka who has been wrongfully imprisoned for 736 days inside The Loop, the futuristic equivalent of death row where young offenders await their execution. Inmates have the option of taking part in ‘delays’, medical and scientific experiments which push back the date of their execution. Luka’s day-to-day routine is mind-numbingly repetitive — but then things start to change. Rumours of war are whispered in the courtyard and the government-issued rain stops falling. Soon, he realises that breaking out of the Loop might be his only chance to save himself and everyone he loves.

Author Ben Oliver commented, ‘I wrote The Loop attempting to recapture that sense of immersion and excitement I had when I was 11 and reading Goosebumps, or 12 and reading Harry Potter, or 30 and reading Harry Potter again. I wrote it for fun and now this team of absolute geniuses appears to have assembled around me to help make it better and share it with the world.’